One of the largest dark web drug marketplaces is closing down in a surprisingly professional manner

When deep web drug markets go offline, the fallout tends to be
explosive. It could be a high-profile police raid sowing fear
throughout the community, or a sudden disappearance that has
short-changed drug dealers and customers calling scam. Not so
with Agora.

Agora — and the dozens of other dark web markets out there — act
as a kind of black-market eBay. Vendors can sell drugs and other
contraband through the site, and are left reviews by customers.
The sites' administrators skim off a percentage fee, and are on
hand to help handle any disputes. Because of the flagrantly
illegal nature of the content sold, payments are typically made
in digital currency bitcoin to ensure anonymity, while the sites
themselves are only accessible through web browsers configured to
use Tor, an anonymising network.

The first major dark web market on the scene was Silk Road.
Launched in early 2011, it became the subject of significant
media attention before it was shuttered by the FBI in 2013. Ross
Ulbricht, a 31-year-old Texan, was subsequently convicted of
operating the site, and sentenced to decades behind bars — but
this didn't stop the deep web drug trade.

Blake Benthall, the alleged operator of Silk Road
2.0.Github/blakeeb

Since Ulbricht's arrest, the number of marketplaces have shot up.
Just a month after the first Silk Road's closure, Silk Road 2.0
sprung up, led by a group of administrators from the original. A
year to the day after it was launched,
it too was closed in a police raid, and alleged operator
Blake Benthall is now awaiting trial.

Not all deep web markets close in arrests; some simply vanish in
what appear to be scams. Evolution is the highest-profile example
of this. After Silk Road 2.0 closed down, it grew to become the
largest market on the scene —
before abruptly closing down in March 2015, apparently with
more than $12 million of bitcoin. The dark web community widely
believes this was a deliberate exit scam to defraud users.

In contrast, Agora's decision to temporarily halt operations has
been remarkably professional. Citing "vulnerabilities in Tor
Hidden Services protocol which could help to deanonymize server
locations,"
a spokesperson wrote on Reddit community r/DarkNetMarkets
that "while we don't have a solution ready it would be unsafe
to keep our users using the service, since they would be in
jeopardy." So, they continue, "to our great sadness we have to
take the market offline for a while, until we can develop a
better solution. This is the best course of action for everyone
involved."

Drugs seized from a German dark web dealer by
police.Polizei
Sachsen

Agora isn't offline yet. It will likely go down in the
coming days. Meanwhile, it says it is "[doing] our best to clear
all outstanding orders," and it also "[asks] all of you users who
have money on their accounts, withdraw them as soon as possible,
because we don't want to be responsible for it during the time
when the market will be offline."

The announcement has drawn immediate praise from the community.
"Well, guess this is what I call a professional approach to
business," wrote the most popular reply. "I'm amazed the guys
were honest til the end," wrote another, "thank you for the
amazing service Agora." Another offers "kudos for being as
transparent as they can be."